macOS FireWire stack re-write

[mrmidi]

Hey community,

I didn't really find a better place to share this, so I hope it's okay to post here.

I'm working on restoring the FireWire stack on macOS "Tahoe" for Apple silicon Macs.

Here is my repo: https://github.com/mrmidi/ASFireWire

Let me keep it brief:
- It's a re-implementation of the FireWire stack using DriverKit and PCIDriverKit.
- It could potentially run on iPads one day with the right entitlements (if it ever becomes possible to get them).
- It's open source and at a very early stage. Right now I'm stabilizing the async stack, which is the foundation for bus/node configuration and everything on top of it.
- This will not bring back your FireWire iPod or audio interface on macOS Tahoe yet. At the moment it mainly makes sense for people who are comfortable with driver programming and low-level debugging.

What is done (shortly):
- Hardware:
I'm using a TB3 -> TB2 -> FW800 adapter chain. I guess a lot of you have a similar setup. More details are in the repo.
- OHCI controller bring-up
- Asynchronous contexts running
- Getting close to AV/C discovery

I'm not an expert Apple engineer, just a curious developer trying to understand how this all works and to see how far I can get.

If you have questions or are just curious about the technical side, feel free to ask here in the thread. I'll do my best to answer.

 

[n_ba-28]

Ah man you could really save me with this, i hope you get this done. Not sure what i could help with, i'm only near the end of my 1st semester in IT uni. Wish you the best

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Oh, dang! I hadn't noticed it was gone! (I only use FireWire every few months, so hadn't done so on Tahoe yet.) This will be a good project, let me keep my first-generation iPod synced!

 

[otechh]

Great idea, i'll have a look!

 

[keksikuningas]

that's pretty funny.

otherwise cool project! i'd love to contribute but don't have firewire devices. and only have macs with fw800 sadly. I am wondering on how your PowerMac G3 set up works. Using some old version of Wireshark to sniff the firewire traffic?

 

[mrmidi]

here is my progress so far:

 

[mrmidi]

otherwise cool project! i'd love to contribute but don't have firewire devices. and only have macs with fw800 sadly. I am wondering on how your PowerMac G3 set up works. Using some old version of Wireshark to sniff the firewire traffic?

Works, I'm using FireBug software, it was a part of Apple's FireWire SDK

 

[keksikuningas]

Works, I'm using FireBug software, it was a part of Apple's FireWire SDK

where'd you get it? does it come bundled with the OS? when I search for firebug all I get is Firefox related results. I'd love to learn more about that.

 

[mrmidi]

where'd you get it? does it come bundled with the OS? when I search for firebug all I get is Firefox related results. I'd love to learn more about that.

Search for FireWire sdk here: https://developer.apple.com/download/all/?q=firewire

 

[keksikuningas]

Search for FireWire sdk here: https://developer.apple.com/download/all/?q=firewire

thanks. Here's the link for anyone else who might be interested: https://download.developer.apple.com/FireWire/firewire_sdk_26_for_mac_os_x_20416/firewiresdk26.dmg

I had to use a

firebug + "firewire" -firefox

search query to find more info about it. There are some PDFs and articles that might be of great interest to anyone else reading this

Do you know by any chance if Power Mac G3 (I think early G4s also had the same chipset) the only way to sniff FireWire traffic? I guess I could get an ancient motherboard with PCI and buy a relatively expensive PCILynx card ($150-200) but doesn't seem like an attractive prospect.

 

[mrmidi]

thanks. Here's the link for anyone else who might be interested: https://download.developer.apple.com/FireWire/firewire_sdk_26_for_mac_os_x_20416/firewiresdk26.dmg

I had to use a

firebug + "firewire" -firefox

search query to find more info about it. There are some PDFs and articles that might be of great interest to anyone else reading this

Do you know by any chance if Power Mac G3 (I think early G4s also had the same chipset) the only way to sniff FireWire traffic? I guess I could get an ancient motherboard with PCI and buy a relatively expensive PCILynx card ($150-200) but doesn't seem like an attractive prospect.

I found that's the only meaningful way to do it: Power Mac G3 or G4 with PCI graphics. Finding another PCILynx based card was a nightmare: they are expensive and rare. Another option is to search for real packet analyzer, but it's also not the cheapest solution.